Introduction

Novare is a vast Imperium of Scandinavian nations founded in the 12th century. History records that it began when a Great Chief called Harrefort united the many clans of the North under one central power, bending all the Chieftains under his will in a campaign of astonishing bloodshed. This is only part of the story.

In Europe, "Novare" is possibly the most feared and hated of household topics of conversation. On all the fronts of Europe their name hangs over the head of peace and freedom for all peoples. Far away in Asia, leaders prepare for one day facing their own reckoning with the Scandinavian war machine.

Here in Elysia, the Novari are the oldest and grandest of enemies. Elysians fought the Novari for their independence 2 centuries ago, and thanks to the Coalition Government, the Empire is still a large part of their lives.

Map go here. eee.

Geography

The Imperium of Novare stretches across all of Scandinavia, and much of Northeast Europe as well. Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, large sections of Russia and half of Poland are all under the yoke of the Novari.

The Atlantic Ocean borders Novare's southeast at Iceland, the Novare Sea to the East, and Baffin Sea is to the west, and far in the North on Svalbard, the fabled origin of the Empire.

The majority cities and settlements of Novare are situated along the ice-free southern coast, however the original settlements of the early days still stand in the frozen North. They are great stone fortresses erected by Kings of the past, and serve an uncertain purpose in the totalitarian present.

History

Much of Imperium history is guarded by the autocratic ruling class of Novare. Fact, and the propaganda put forward by the King's heralds may be very different things indeed. In the dark ages, much of the lands now part of the Imperium were populated by viking peoples, with their own culture, spiritual beliefs and proclivities toward their neighbours.

12th Century - The Great Purge and the Heroes of the Forslukken Gradig

In the 12th century, magicke experienced its Great Purge. As the black plague began to sweep across the continents, killing hundreds of thousands, frightened furres of the world more and more blamed the pandemic on mages dabbling in the black arts. From Asia to Europe the usual territorial wars ground to a halt in favour of the blacker business of watching huge chunks of the population die terribly from the plague. Rulers instead turned their viciousness on Mages, forcibly evicting and executing them and purging magicke from their nations. It was an Age before mages were seen again in the Courts of Royal rulers as trusted advisors. For that time, they were the cursed rabble caste, driven across the world.

Meanwhile, in the Western continents of Stara Ziema, magicke came to prevalence for the first time, and the seeds of Empires were being sown. The followers of Panak’si start banding together to form the Rephan Empire, and in the South, the first whisperings of the Zabel union of nations were being heard.

At this time, a group of displaced mages from Asia and Russia banded together to seek some new fate. At the behest of their de facto leader, the mages decide that the end of government in their affairs is a blessing in disguise. They set out to the far north of Europe, to the island of Svalbard, where they could practice their craft and their research in peace and seclusion. Here, they called their group the Forslukken Gradig, an ironic title given to them by the strange Nanook Fae peoples they encounterd along the way. Some of these Fae taught the mages their ancestral ways; the ability to consult bodiless spirits, for instance, a favour they would later come to regret.

The harsh clime, unsuitable for 12th century peoples, battered the settler mages. Only through magicke and camaraderie were they able to survive, and stave off the hunger and deadly cold. They expected to find mortal peoples there, as well as Fae, but strangely found neither. In the far East of Svalbard they found paltry numbers of animals and plants for cultivation, barely enough to survive. In the West, however, they discovered something entirely more unusual; an ancient temple, half-buried in the tundra’s vast sheet of ice. No signs of habitation were found within, but only a large ruined chamber strewn with ancient artefacts. In the floor of the vast temple they foun a sarcophagus forged from a strange, magickally sensitive metal ore. From impenetrable glass on the lid of the sarcophagus, they observed its contents; the body of a young woman, extremely well preserved.

The mages decided then that the temple warranted further investigation. They were unsure of its origin, but set up camp nearby to study the artefacts within. Soon, they observed that their magicke was amplified when used in proximity to the strange structure. They experienced less fatigue, and gathered more magickal energy more rapidly when casting spells. Some among their number left Svalbard, but many more stayed behind, fascinated by the phenomenon. Word reached their comrades, far across the eastern hemisphere, who, titillated by the tales of strange magickal wonders, began flocking to Svalbard. Scandinavian ferrymen guided hundreds of mages and scholars to Svalbard, asking few questions, and in exchange for handsome compensation. Their original guide, Kaul Harrefort, a barbarian from the mainlands, found himself drawn to the site, and uncharacteristically set his camp among the new mage settlement surrounding the temple.

1350 - Harrefort the Great and the League of Novare

The mages soon found their nights beset by bizarre nightmares, which instructed them in the use of strange new magickes. They were urged by new desires toward uncommon violence and conquest. Harrefort, the barbarian, one day proclaimed himself their Chieftain, and the powerful mages accepted this with surprising deference to him. The group dubbed themselves the League of Novare, and set sail for the coasts of Norway, to spread their new word with vicious dedication.

Every village the League encountered fell under their blades and magicke in those years. They marched their way to the Southern capitals of Scandinavia with astonishing speed, unchallenged in their use of magicke and with a burgeoning number of barbarian warriors on their side as more and more land came under their heel. The League’s Chieftain, Harrefort, challenged the most powerful chieftains and defeated them each in single combat. With the many tribes of Scandinavian people gradually coming under one common ruler, the League began to create an army fit to conquer the world, typically through the subjugation and enslaving of tens of thousands of peoples of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

All the while, the mysterious woman’s corpse remained untouched in the temple, inside her sarcophagus. She was the only artefact in the old temple that the mages had curiously declined to study. In the dreams of the mages, a voice whispered to their subconscious… Go forth… Bring the nations under your heel.

13th Century - The Novari Imperium and the Rise of the Enclave

A hundred years later, the League had evolved into the Imperium of Novare. Harrefort, having gone mad and died, had sired a line of Chieftain Kings to rule in his stead over the ages. Behind the scenes, however, the mages of the League still lived unnaturally long lives. They retreated to Svalbard, to hide from the eyes of the people who assumed them long dead of old age. Finding themselves unable to leave the vicinity of the temple for long periods of time, they now experienced the seclusion they had originally come for, but without any of the promises of peace.

Bitterly aware of their own corruption, they ceased to be the Forslukken Gradig mages, and became the Enclave, which would send the whispered plans of the Empress to the rulers of Novare. They knew now that their wills were not their own, but their doubts had proved too little, too late. All that mattered now was the study of the temple, and to use the Empire to do the bidding of their sleeping “Empress”.

Meanwhile, the people of the growing Imperium had no reason to question whether their Kings were the true power, and eagerly accepted the dictates of the Enclave (without even knowing of its existence). They marvelled as their “scientists and engineers” made astonishing breakthroughs, and created the first working Golems; mechanical creations imbued with a corruption of Nanook spirit-summoning. In secret, the Enclave instructed their underlings to begin hunting down nearby supernaturals, in particular Unicorns Fae and secure them into capture for their study.

14th Century - The Age of Novare

Novari magicke and technology had become a terrifying presence in Europe. Among the most advanced in the world, their Golems were now improved to deadly effectiveness, and the creation of the first Novari Court Warlocks a powerful boon to their military might. Their vast legions of barbarians and powerful mages were now well-equipped and organized, and kept in tow by sinister Warlocks overseeing the field of battle.

By this time, the Novari had through their research created their greatest creation of all; the Daruni. These selectively bred and magickally imbued warriors were a dark aspect of the Faerie Unicorn, made possible by the whispers of the sleeping Empress. The Daruni made deft and obedient warriors, possessing no fear or moral trepidation in the conquest of Europe. Able to be magickally “charged”, they were virtually immune to enemy sorcery, and in concert with Warlocks to control them were virtually unstoppable.
The Novari decided to first test their creations on the people of the Baltic Region. Beginning in modern-day Estonia, the Novari and their Daruni warriors laid waste, killing and enslaving tens of thousands in a move that shocked Europe into stunned and petrified silence. The sight of vastly powerful, terrifying hordes of Novari military, amassing on nearby European borders, made the Kingdoms tremble all the way to the several seas.

Many in the Empire began to feel their great society had lost its way. Looking upon the vicious, black-clad hordes of their army, they found their civilization far removed from its agrarian tribal ways. But the totalitarian regime had set in by now, and their doubts, too, came too late. Thousands of Novari subjects were summarily convicted of treason and silenced by execution and imprisonment for the vaguest hint of doubt in the leadership.

15th Century - Conquest and Colonial Power

With all of Scandiavia, the Baltics, and parts of Russia under their yoke, the Enclave received new instructions on Svalbard.
For the first time, the Novari sent their ambassadors across Europe, reaching out to the many kingdoms for peaceful parley, and a proposition; band together in a Coalition, and colonize the island of Nexus in the mid-Atlantic. Lacking significant naval power, the ambassadors promised riches and priceless ore in exchange for the aid of Europe in creating a suitable naval force.
Many greedy European leaders and monarchs were quick to agree at the prospect of such capital gains. Notable among these was the growing banking concern, Malthus & Fullo. The British, Spanish, French and numerous others offered their naval power to ferry Novari equipment to Nexus. Ostensibly to be used to mine the precious metals found on the island, the members of the Coalition would soon discover what the Novari’s true interests were.

The nations forcibly conscripted thousands of commoners as cheap labour, and sent them to Nexus as the first settlers. The island, forcibly taken from the indigenous wolf-peoples there, was quickly dotted by Novari garrisons with tenant settlers and farmers labouring in the Nexus sun nearby. Despite the monolithic presence of the Novari garrisons, the island’s natural unspoiled beauty caught the imaginations of the multi-European population of settlers, who soon began referring to Nexus as Elysia, after a fabled paradise of their shared Light religion. To many, this name was more than figurative; the settlers began to see it as the long-sought paradise they had earned through countless generations of suffering in Europe.

Their visions of paradise, however, were short-lived. The Novari Expeditionary Force brought the colonists brutally to heel. They became little more than slaves to the Novari archaeologists; not to mine valuable ore, but to excavate the vast ancient ruins of the island. The Novari forced their slave-state to feverishly search the countryside’s archaeological sites, without even being particularly sure of what they were looking for. Thousands lived in harsh conditions, dying of exhaustion and starvation while unable to tend fruitful crops or plantations.

To replenish their workforce, the Novari commissioned slave ships to bring captured workers from across the globe. These slaves would form the diverse ethnic background of modern Elysia.

1458-1460 - Defiance

In the winter months of 1458 the Novari called upon a French garrison commander to quell a small peasant uprising near the settlement of Aesir. Instead, he commits treason against the Novari state and organizes the militia into a true fighting force. As the Novari prepared to crush the rebellion and its new leader, Malthus & Fullo expressed their doubts in the profitability of the Novari colonization by bankrolling Aucoin’s militia instead. The Novari angrily retaliated with summary executions and imprisonment.
The European Kingdoms of the Coalition, having taken their steps from Malthus & Fullo, refused to intervene.

A dispatch of Daruni was sent from back home in Novare, but upon reaching Elysia they strangely began to lose the will to fight. Within a mere year, most of these Daruni have gone AWOL. Many of them joined the rebellion, which was now a full-blown Revolution on Novari hands. With the funds of Malthus & Fullo behind them, the enraged Yanaka indigenous peoples, and no European interests to help the Novari, the revolution was victorious. The Novari Expeditionary Force were ousted, many of their number changing sides rather than be sent back home to chaotic Europe. Aucoin was dubbed King Xavier the First of Elysia, and the new kingdom was born.

Shamed but not beaten, the Novari turned their desire for vengeance upon their European neighbours. They avenged themselves against the Britains first, mercilessly hammering the British Isles with their new naval strength. The Brits responded by seeking aid from the dangerous and unknown lands of Stara-Ziema, but their parley was unsuccessful when their ambassadors were never seen again.

Many other Kingdoms of Europe soon suffered the same fate. Much of Denmark and modern-day Poland were annexed by the Novari, and in the east their territory expanded as well, taking ground from Russia, who would soon unite under the Tsardom of Muscovy.

With their resources replenished and a new grasp of sea power, the Novari returned to Elysia in 1482. The Novari had absolutely no European help this time, but had bolstered their forces considerably through European conquest. The Elysians, meanwhile, have organized their nation under a new constitution, with a national Royal Army, Duchies, and an organized force of Yanaka military units. The Second Novari War ended in a narrow Elysian victory, as Colonials repelled the invaders from what was left of their devastated nation. Famine and disease followed, along with a deep economic depression.

16th Century - Old Habits Die Hard

Spain battles the Novari, losing control of the straight of Gibraltar and the associated trade powers with it. The Spanish Castille Dynasty forms an Imperial union of their own, and invite the city-states of Italy into the fold. Other nations are still yet to recognize the need to band together under the Novari threat.

It has been many years since the Enclave has received direct orders from their Empress, and many of them begin to go irreparably insane. They have passively allowed their puppet regime to carry on with arbitrary European conquest. A few of the regime’s mistakes allow the Ottoman Empire a foothold. The Ottomans siege Mesopotamia, ending the reign of the Byzantines and forming their new realm under their Emperor Suleyman. The Novari will soon scrap with the Ottoman’s sheer power of numbers in North Africa, struggling to wrest control the Mediterranean.

The Novari continue to harass British naval interests. Distracted, the British are unable to bring Ireland into their yoke, and the island remains independent. Soon, the British instead form the Peace of Eastfall, a treaty advising European nations to band together against the aggressive Novari presence. Included is the union of the Light religion across Europe under one central religious figure, the Grand Caliph. The Ottomans, however, refuse to sign, and engage the Novari on their own in massive decisive battles that lay waste to pastoral North Africa. Much of Europe now faced the expansionist Novari and vicious Ottomans on multiple fronts.

1578 - Vengeance against Elysia, and a new Novari Age

The enclave receives its first instructions in nearly a century. Many of the mages instantly break down in fits of euphoria. When the confusion clears, the Enclave instructs their regime to parley with the Arrym refugee state in Stara-Ziema, where they are besieged by the Rephan Empire and about to be ousted from their fledgling Arrym Free State. They use their influence to convince Tyrraktal, the new and young Siege Lord of the Arrym to take up root and invade Elysia. They believe the Novari will foment treason among the Elysian government and military, then follow shortly afterward to reinforce them.

The invasion goes forward. Though well-prepared, the Elysians experience a shocking loss of ground on their Western shores, the Arrym somehow able to penetrate and catch their defences off-guard. The Novari appear as promised, but instead ostensibly take the side of Elysia, and engage in eastern skirmishes to secure Elysian townships. They set up garrisons to protect the populace. Elysians are astonished at the peace between them and their bitter old enemies.

As the entire nation awaits a devastating three-front war and the Arrym force in very good strategic strength, forces from the Rephan Empire arrive. Their Black Ships on the horizon filled with warrior-magicians and powerful creatures, the force led by the ruling Xantha panthers take the side of Elysia, and prepare to tip the scales further.

The true war begins, with pitched battle engulfing the country in the vicious destruction. The Horde seems too well dug-in to assure a quick victory for either side, but astonishingly, they surrender.

There is a deafening moment of political silence as the three sides seem unaware of what to do now. Enclave breaks this silence by sending more orders. The Novari begin to build garrisons everywhere in the country. They argue that the Elysian government is beset by traitors and incompetents, and that their original terms of engagement were violated by the wartime Elysian regime. The Xantha, meanwhile, keep a notable silence about these new movements.

They begin to take control, buying time while their many reinforcements arrive. This time they have taken few Daruni, but numerous sorcerers and golems to make their presence known. Soon the Novari declare the collapse of the Elysian government under the weight of treason and incompetence, and a full-blown Occupation has begun.
The Occupation drags on for a full year, as the Novari bring some of their political techniques to Elysia; torture, slavery, summary sentencing of treason. A vicious Resistance is formed to combat the Occupation. Many suspected are executed, and many more just for an example. The Xantha, once the allies of pre-war Elysian interests, now aid the Novari in bringing the country under submission. They create roving Death Squads that make an example out of hundreds of lives. Resistance forces retaliate ferociously, turning the Occupation instead into a bloody war of attrition.

All citizens, including Arrym soldiers and new Novari settlers call for the end of the war by any means. With the body count mounting on both sides, the deadlock is broken one day in August at the village of Cherry, where a Treaty is signed, forming the new Coalition government, with power shared among Elysian, Yanaka, Novari, Xantha, and Arrym interests. The Novari of the island are sworn in as citizens, now, casting off the shackles of their old Empire and becoming Elysians. Whether the conversions of their highest leaders are genuine, however, has yet to become apparent.

Back at the Enclave on Svalbard, the mages bar the doors to the temple, sealed inside with their sleeping Mistress. The silence of a hundred years has been broken, and the psychic whispers of the strange young woman have begun once more.